The Madness of Boy George

[jimnysf]

Posted: 10/16/06 at 1:37am

He's shooting his mouth off again!

BY GEORGE...

ON MADONNA: "I just think she's a vile, hideous, horrible human being with no redeeming qualities. There's nothing nice about her. I've never heard anyone say anything nice about her at all."

ON ROBBIE WILLIAMS: "He could use my help. The last album was terrible. He's at that point where he's just throwing anything out. He needs another 'Angels' or something really classy."

ON ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER: "[People] always go on about 'theatre is a dying art form and we must save it', and then we just put on another Andrew Lloyd Webber re-run. It's tragic."

ON ELTON JOHN (after a hotel lift failed on him): "Imagine if that was Elton John, the drama that would have ensued? David Furnish would be spitting feathers right now."
-----

Oh Boy, George
In the wake of his drugs bust this summer, the troubled singer is back, spitting venom at his contemporaries
By Anthony Barnes
Published: 15 October 2006
Boy George is bitter. After a troubled year culminating in a spell sweeping the streets of New York after a cocaine bust, the famously outspoken singer has returned to one of the things he does best: giving his contemporaries a taste of his acid tongue.

In an outspoken attack on fellow stars, he describes Madonna as "vile", Sir Elton John as a drama queen who appeals to "common-or-garden homosexuals", and Robbie Williams's music as "terrible". And those are some of his more polite descriptions in his expletive-strewn putdowns.

The singer also reveals that, despite his high profile and fortune, he is a regular user of gay prostitutes and tells how he lost himself in a blur of cocaine.

George, 45, has spent much of the past 12 months wrestling with personal issues after being arrested for cocaine possession. He was eventually ordered to serve five days' community service in August in a very public humiliation, which saw him hounded by TV crews, photographers and reporters as he swept gutters in Manhattan.

The singer and DJ has been in the public eye for a quarter of a century, first finding fame as the androgynous "gender bender" frontman for Culture Club, who affronted Middle England with his appearances on Top of the Pops in full make up, effeminate clothes and long, ribboned hair.

Now, in a new Channel 4 documentary, he has proved he has lost none of the power to shock by rounding on numerous celebrities. His choicest venom is reserved for Madonna.

In an extended rant, he splutters: "Madonna... I just think she's a vile, hideous, horrible human being with no redeeming qualities. There's nothing nice about her. I've never heard anyone say anything nice about her at all. And anyone that's ever met her she's been vile to. Vile, full of herself - so unspiritual. How has this woman got away with it for so long?"

As for Robbie Williams, he says: "He could use my help; the last album was terrible. He's at that point now where he's just throwing anything out - he needs another 'Angels' or something really classy. That new thing he's got out, it makes Ronan Keating look like a genius."

George let the cameras into his east London flat, which he has decorated with homoerotic artworks. His bed linen is decorated with the names of some of the people he has slept with, including his former long-term love Jon Moss, the drummer of Culture Club. His pillows also detail some of his sexual exploits.

"I like gay sex," he says. He also admits paying for sex and using the internet to trawl for partners. "Straight people have been doing it for years. Prostitution is the oldest, most respected profession. I don't think there's anything wrong with it."

During filming of The Madness of Boy George, to be screened on Tuesday, he is asked whether Sir Elton is a gay role model. "If you're a common-or-garden homosexual then maybe, but not if you're a fag like I am. I'm not an Elton John type of gay. I'm not vanilla" (into boring sex).

In the mid-1980s after his chart success started to slip, George turned to heroin like others in his social scene; he sunk back into drug use following the savaging of his stage show Taboo, when it went to Broadway, culminating in his bust last year. He had confusedly called police himself.

Although he calls his punishment "a media service day, not community service", he is upbeat about street sweeping. "I've enjoyed it, in a bizarre, perverse Boy George kind of way."

[Caroline-Q-or-TBoo]

Posted: 10/16/06 at 1:43am

I can't believe he's 45.

Geez. grow up.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 10/16/06 at 1:52am

I'm sorry, I'm going to get laughed at for this; he's crass in his honesty, probably insane and whatever else, but I f*cking love him.

Honestly, he's not wrong in his comments about ALW, nor is he far from a position to make such a comment; I know I'm not alone in believing that the score he composed for Taboo, mess the production may have been on the whole, was genius. As far as writing music for the theater goes, the guy knows what he's doing.

Updated On: 10/16/06 at 01:52 AM

[mateo]

Posted: 10/16/06 at 1:55am

luv- i agree.


I read his comments and found myself nodding.

Updated On: 10/16/06 at 01:55 AM

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 10/16/06 at 1:57am

I'm obviously biased in that I love his music and I think he's fascinating, but props to him for being honest, I suppose.

[Jane2]

Posted: 10/16/06 at 9:06am

I was a huge Boy George fan.

Updated On: 10/16/06 at 09:06 AM

[best12bars]

Posted: 10/16/06 at 9:48am

Jane2---Wow. That's a pretty serious charge!

I have to say that I admire the guy's honesty, even if I don't agree with him on everything... prostitution is "the oldest profession" but "most respected?" Yeah, right. That's why they used to stone them to death in ancient times.

And he is acting like he's 17, not 45. At what point to people "grow up" anymore... is it 50?... 60? When do people stop living and behaving like they're still rebelling teenagers?

[alterego]

Posted: 10/16/06 at 9:53am

I agreed with his summation of Madonna, ALW, Elton John and (recent) Robbie Williams. Madonna especially.

[Jane2]

Posted: 10/16/06 at 9:53am

I know.

Updated On: 10/16/06 at 09:53 AM

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 10/16/06 at 9:56am

"When do people stop living and behaving like they're still rebelling teenagers?"

I'll let you know when I get there, b12b!

[Jane2]

Posted: 10/16/06 at 10:06am

I actually went through a phase when I dressed (tried to anyway) like George. I loved his 80's look and music.

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 10/16/06 at 10:14am

Jane2, are you really Alison Moyet?

[Jane2]

Posted: 10/16/06 at 10:16am

yes, I am.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 10/16/06 at 10:18am

Trying to dress like Boy George must've looked like quite a sight on a woman in her 50s.

[Jane2]

Posted: 10/16/06 at 10:23am

"Trying to dress like Boy George must've looked like quite a sight on a woman in her 50s"

I'm sure it must have. I was in my 20's.

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 10/16/06 at 10:26am

You ARE Alison Moyet!

We all looked like jackasses in the 80s.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 10/16/06 at 10:28am

Yes we did.

Thanks, Madonna.

[best12bars]

Posted: 10/16/06 at 10:30am

Not me.

I never dressed like any of you bitches.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 10/16/06 at 10:31am

True, but your Montgomery Clift-style certainly made you the odd man out.

[Jane2]

Posted: 10/16/06 at 10:31am

"I never dressed like any of you bitches."

But you wanted to!

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 10/16/06 at 10:34am

He didnt have enuf dippity do...

and was jealous!

b12b couldnt get his Flock of Seagulls do.

[best12bars]

Posted: 10/16/06 at 10:35am

Yeah, I was the odd man out in the '80s. True dat.

But I looked more like PAT from Saturday Night Live than Monty Clift.

And Jane2---I NEVER wanted to join in those asymmetrical Nagel Days. No interest whatsoever.


But I made up for lost time in the '90s... Boy howdy. I became a gay cliche overnight. I sure was pretty though!

...WAS.

Updated On: 10/16/06 at 10:35 AM

[Elphaba]

Posted: 10/16/06 at 10:38am

Bitter, party of one, table for Bitter.....

[best12bars]

Posted: 10/16/06 at 10:42am

Boy George has made a post-rock career out of "bitter."

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 10/16/06 at 10:52am

I saw the first date of Culture Club's first US tour and I can honestly say, that wasn't "rock."